The Phoenix Princess and the Monkey King
by MagicMusicBox
Summary: Princess Jiao has one year to spend on earth before her wedding day and loses her engagement present, Sun Wukong has grown bored of his royal duties and is craving another adventure. Can the two provide the other with what they seek?


Sun Wukong, the King of Monkeys, sighed and leaned back in his stone throne. Practice was done and the day was coming to an end, so most of his subjects were retiring to their trees. Another peaceful and quiet night to come, here on his Mountain of Flowers and Fruits, which for him meant another night of wandering his kingdom, wondering what sort of adventure could be crammed in a place he had perhaps overlooked.

Or at least, that was his hope.

"Gracious Bodhisattva, give me patience," he grumbled through his canines as he stood from the throne and walked to the roaring entrance to his Water Sheet Cave. His subjects, those that were still awake, watched him as he passed through the waterfall and roamed into the forest. They knew their king had as much a craving for adventure as he did for peaches; after all, he had already had so many fantastic journeys and encounters that any other aspect of life may seem boring.

Not to say, of course, that he wasn't a good king. He ruled justly and fairly, and was always there to protect them from any danger or threat, because he loved all of his people, high and low, old and young, it didn't matter. In reality, they were one of the few things he lived for, and though he did indeed love them, adventure was one of the other things, and he had been without it for far too long now.

A brief somersault brought him to the top of a nearby crag; the rough, cool stone briefly making him curl his toes as he looked out at the changing colors of the sky, and the horizon while it was still visible. Somewhere out there, there had to be another adventure, one that would satisfy this horrid itch that behaved like an infestation of ticks in his fur, and one hopefully his people would forgive him for undergoing. Sometimes it seemed so repetitive and pointless, needing adventure, leaving, feeling homesick and returning, only for the cycle to begin again. Was this really all there was to his destiny?

Or was there more?

Somersaulting to a new crag to survey his mountain as the sun disappeared was his goal, interrupted by the brief glimpses of light in the distance. Wukong paused and looked towards the sky where he had seen the lights. Were they stars? No. No, stars didn't shine like that. These lights flickered in the same way a candle did as it was being blown out, and they were falling like embers towards the horizon. If only they were closer, his eyes could see the truth, even if it was only a brief glimpse…

The sky lit up once again, this time with a crack of thunder, and the glow of fire loomed over the mountain like the palm of Buddha himself, and Wukong flinched, reaching into his fur and pulling his most loyal companion, his Compliant Golden Banded Cudgel, Ruyi Jingu Bang, from its resting place. He watched as a ball of flickering, golden fire fell from the clouds and struck the earth of his mountain, sending up a pillar of flame and embers as it landed at the base of the valley, where the forest was at its thickest, and a mixture of excitement, shock, and alarm ran through his blood. Perhaps the Bodhisattva had heard his prayer after all!

Fearful screeches and calls broke him away from his thoughts, and he jumped from the crag, letting a wisp of cloud carry him back down to the forest, where he found his subjects, some scrambling to arm themselves while others saw their children and loved ones to safety, waiting for him.

"Y-Your majesty! There was a ball of fire in the sky, and it—" one of the scouts said hastily as he ran over to him.

"Yes, I know, I saw it." Wukong said, shouldering Jingu Bang. "You all stay here while I go investigate."

"Are you sure, your highness?"

Wukong laughed. "Who do you think you're talking to? Don't forget, I promised to protect everyone!"

With that, a gust of wind and a somersault to a wisp of cloud, he was away, flying towards the valley he saw the ball of fire land in. Given its glow, the embers it left flying into the air, and the number of trees it had left fallen in its wake, it wouldn't be all that hard to find the exact spot where it hit. Wukong flew past the smoke, surprised how quickly the embers began to die and fade, and despite the fire, the trees that had fallen were not burned badly. This was obviously no ordinary fire. Deciding it best to throw caution to the wind, and with it, the cloud he rode upon, Wukong approached from the ground, in the shadows of the trees and their leaves. There was no scent, thanks to the smoke, which also made it hard to see any shapes that lay beyond the pile of earth that made up the crater. He kept Jingu Bang at the ready, so as to swing at the first thing that jumped out of that haze as he reached the edge of the crater and looked down into it.

Nothing. The deep scar was empty. How strange.

Wukong slid down into the bottom of the crater, feeling the warm, tossed earth beneath his feet and the smoke sting his eyes slightly as he looked around for whatever caused the damage to his forest home. But there was nothing… No, wait!

Yes there was.

As he squinted through the smoke, he saw something on the opposite side of the crater, something that almost made him swore he had spun in a half circle and forgotten about it. Marks, as though someone else had slid into the crater, or in this case, backwards, someone who had climbed out. Placing his hand flat against one of the marks, he saw that the shape was nearly identical, and the footmarks suggested that whoever made these had dragged themselves out. Moving further up the side of the crater, he saw more footmarks, leading into the forest.

Wukong felt a tick in the back of his mind. He hadn't heard of beings falling from the sky since his battle with Heaven, and he began to wonder if this falling ball of fire was one of them. With that thought came a slight regret of his desire for adventure, as he wanted little to do with the Celestial Court anymore, despite how many long centuries it had been since he'd ever crossed paths with any of them. Even so, his curiosity was eating at him, and he began to follow the tracks into the forest, keeping to the shadows, just in case.

Sounds other than the ones of the forest and the crackle of fire behind him soon rang in his ears, and pressed forward, moving quietly so as not to disturb the pattern of footfalls ahead of him. Who, or whatever it was, it assuredly walked on two legs by the sound, and didn't seem to be in that great of a hurry, yet there was still purpose in its steps. Wukong jumped into the trees, landing softly, hoping not to disturb any birds that nested there and startle the intruder as he followed them from above, trying to get a good look at them.

And finally, he did, as she crossed into a gap in the trees that allowed just enough of the last of the sunset's glow, and first of the moonbeams to illuminate her form. She appeared human, obviously female, and seemed to be in a daydreaming or dazed state, not completely aware of her surroundings, even as she looked around her, keeping one enclosed hand over her heart like a safeguard. Ever curious, Wukong drew closer, jumping to lower branches to get a better look, waiting for her to do something other than wander. But she just kept ambling on, and he quickly grew bored, which was something of a relief to him. She didn't seem to have any hostile intent about her, merely seemed lost.

Holding Jingu Bang close to his side, he dropped down to the lowest hanging branch he could find just ahead of her view, and crouched down, letting his muscles hang slack so not to appear as a threat to her.

"Greetings," he said, causing her to turn sharply on her heels towards him, wobbling to one side as she did. Before he could say more, she turned again in the same direction she had been facing beforehand and broke into a sprint through the foliage. Wukong was taken aback for a moment, but straightened and took off after her, somersaulting through the air and landing on a wisp of cloud that formed beneath him.

"Wait!" he called, dodging tree limbs and trunks as he flew after her. "I mean you no harm!"

This plea did not sway her. She continued to run as though her life depended on it. And a number of thoughts ran through the Monkey King's mind; the foremost being that she could be leading him into a trap, but something about the way she ran, and the look on her face back there said otherwise. She was frightened, and that was all there was to it.

His monkeys suddenly jumping down from the trees and cutting off her escape with weapons brandished did nothing but add to it, unfortunately. Their training had taught them to surround from all sides in the form of an ambush, as surprise was often their best ally, but it had also taught them never to launch any fatal blows if an intruder was unarmed, so thankfully surround her was all they did. She didn't seem convinced of that possibility though and fell to her knees with a terrified cry.

"Stay your weapons!" Wukong commanded as he flew overhead, slowing down and letting the cloud under him fade as he neared the ground. Seeing him and hearing his command, they obeyed, parting enough for him to step forward into the circle that formed around the girl. He slacked his muscles again and crouched down to her height, at just enough distance away from her so as not to frighten her further.

"Calm yourself," he said, outstretching an exposed palm in the exact manner he suggested. "I promise, no one's going to hurt you. Just tell us what you're doing on our mountain."

She said nothing, eyes darting from the monkeys behind him to his face, before suddenly falling shut as the whites in them appeared. Startled chirps and murmurs ran through the gathered monkeys as the young maiden suddenly fell back into the clovers and moss beneath her, fainted. Wukong shook his head and clicked his head, turning his head to his subjects.

"There, now see what you've done? You've startled the poor lady into such a state!" he scolded jokingly, tucking Jingu Bang into the hair behind his ear and stepping forward to pick her up. "Fashion a stretcher, we'll take her back to the mountain."

A handful of monkeys tucked their weapons away and quickly began to work on a stretcher to carry the maiden, while Wukong looked her over. She wasn't injured so far as he could tell, though from her expression he could see there was a level of distress, perhaps simply from exhaustion, or her fear, or from a combination of the two. As his eyes searched her, Wukong found her right hand clenched tightly, noting that it had been when he first saw her from the trees. She was carrying something. Keeping one arm tucked beneath her to keep her from falling, he freed one hand just enough to take her clenched palm and gently force it open to see just what she was sort of object she was so intent on keeping.

A feather?


End file.
